nuclear-news

USA’s hypocrisy about nuclear disarmament and Iran

A breakthrough with Iran will be feather in the cap of President
Obama’s second term. But taking positive steps toward global nuclear
disarmament will be the crown jewel of his legacy.

The United States’ Nuclear Hypocrisy, HUFFINGTON POST,  Ahmad Sadri,
27 Dec 12 President Obama’s return to the discourse of nuclear
disarmament earned him the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. Earlier that
year the recently elected President of the United States went to
Prague and sounded a clarion call for a ban on all nuclear testing and
a new treaty to end the production of fissile materials intended for
nuclear weapons.

Four years have passed and the Prague promise seems to
have been forgotten. In reaction to a U.S. nuclear test on December 5,
the Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs addressed
President Obama with these words: “Your administration seeks
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. But your position of urging
others to renounce nuclear weapons, while continuing your own nuclear
tests, does not stand to reason.”….
Despite the apparent intractability of the problem of Iranian nuclear
challenge there is not much disagreement about the contours of the
required compromise: Iran’s rights under the international law and the
articles of the NPT must be recognized while assurances and a water
tight regime of inspections must be established to ensure Iran does
not use its fissile materials for military purposes. The reason that
after ten years this simple formula has not been implemented is the
lack of trust on both sides and hence, the much touted trope of
“confidence building measures.”

Weary of offering any more compromises, Iran will be hard-pressed to
show good will again. To pass muster in Iran, any such gesture
requires a similar measure from the American side. In the meanwhile,
the American politicians can ill afford the appearance of compromising
with Iran in the equally galvanized American political scene.

President Obama is in a unique position to break the impasse without
even seeming to try. By returning to the issue of nuclear disarmament
of the outset of his presidency, Mr. Obama will appear to meet Iran
halfway without investing any political capital. Such a call would be
addressed to the nuclear powers but it shall be construed as an
unmistakable nod to Iran and other non-nuclear countries.

Predicated on a campaign for nuclear disarmament, the
non-proliferation agenda will finally find its moral center and
logical legs. Such a move will erase the unappealing image of a group
of world powers with a history of military and political use of
nuclear weapons admonishing other countries to do as say, not as they
do.

A breakthrough with Iran will be feather in the cap of President
Obama’s second term. But taking positive steps toward global nuclear
disarmament will be the crown jewel of his legacy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ahmad-sadri/nuclear-nonproliferation_b_2372021.html

December 28, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general